It wasn’t pretty, but Arsenal beat Fulham at Craven Cottage thanks to a Leandro Trossard goal from a corner kick.
The Gunners made it five straight wins across all competitions – while only conceding once in the process. Only Newcastle found the net against them in this span.
In terms of performance, this one wasn’t as good as the previous three. But Mikel Arteta and the fans will certainly take the three points to reclaim the top of the league, which had been momentarily stolen by Manchester City a few hours earlier.
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How did Arsenal beat Fulham?
How Fulham made it difficult in the first half
It would be unfair to state Arsenal’s struggles without mentioning what caused them. At the start, the Gunners were unusually sleepy. A lot of unforced errors that led to Fulham fast breaks and even shots.
This invited the Cottagers – who had started rather unagressively – and their fans to the game. From the 10th to the 30th minute, it was basically all Fulham.
Marco Silva set up a very effective man-marking system in the middle of the park to nullify Arsenal’s build-up play from the back. Arteta had Rice and Zubimendi in the double pivot of an on-ball 3-2-5 to start.
However, Fulham took basically all their options away, which led to a lot of sideways passing between the centre-backs. The rigid structure from the forward line also didn’t help, with everyone not named Bukayo Saka kept quiet for the most part. Eberechi Eze in particular had little opportunities to display his creativity.
Mikel Arteta tried to fix this by having his “forwards” switch places in a merry-go-round kind of way. It did open up a few passing lanes, but nothing that made Arsenal really hurt Fulham.
Key first-half stats:
- 3 errors that led to shots (more than any other full game this season)
- Conceded each of the first four shots in the game and took 21 minutes to attempt their first
- 40 passes exchanged between Saliba and Gabriel, the most of any duo in the match
30-minute stretch of good football
Between the 30th and the 60th minutes, however, the Gunners were much, much better. They managed to get more bodies forward and occupy the attacking half a lot more, suffocating the Cottagers near their own box.
In fact, eight of their 11 crosses attempted from set pieces came within the 36th and 58th minute. The other three were from the 89th minute onwards.
It was also in this period that Arsenal opened the scoring – from a corner kick. Leandro Trossard converted Gabriel’s near-post flick-on and gave his team a much needed win.
Even in these 30 minutes of good football, it wasn’t all perfect. But the hosts did nothing while the Gunners piled on the pressure and found spaces time and again – mainly from the right side.
A Bukayo Saka masterclass
Speaking of which, the main reason why this happened is Bukayo Saka. The No.7 had an incredible game and took part in basically all the good things Arsenal did against Fulham. Apart from misplacing a switch of play in the second half, which led to his team facing a shot, it was a flawless performance.
The Gunners ended the game with nearly half of their offensive actions coming from Saka’s right side (46%). He set his teammates and himself up, tracked back, pressured and took defenders on. Ryan Sessegnon will be having nightmares about him for the next few nights.
Key Saka stats:
- 13 touches in the opposition box (Ranked #1)
- 6 chances created (Ranked #1)
- 21 duels contested (Ranked #1)
- 14 duels won (Ranked #1)
- 10 possessions won (Ranked #1)
- 2 tackles (Ranked #3)
- 2 shots (Ranked #4)
Overall, it wasn’t the prettiest or most inspiring Arsenal win. Arteta reverted back to a more rigid structure than in the past few games and they struggled a lot more to break Fulham down than the other recent opponents.
Still, it felt like a deserved three points for the Gunners who will still be top of the league with 19 points until the next matchweek. Liverpool and Tottenham still have a game in hand, but the Reds can only reach 18 points while the Spurs will go to 17 if they beat Aston Villa.
Good news is that, erasing the silly and unusual mistakes they made at Craven Cottage, Arsenal would have had yet another completely safe game defensively.
That is one part of the game that doesn’t seem to change and their defence remain one of the safest bets in world football at the moment.